1. |
Air for The Bight
05:52
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I fell into the ocean
And call unto the depths
Echoes alone from down below
And allay the ocean waves
The beasts swam on through depths
And call the bight their home
Now rare, leviathan
Relieved of oil & bone
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2. |
Rust On Me Collar
04:08
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My bonnie lassie told to me
of foreign land way across the sea
a promised Port set in ocean heath
where the seagulls fly over waters deep
King & Queen we leave on shore
O house of commons and petty wars
I wave goodbye to my friends and kin,
hoist the sails on days of toil & sin,
Aye with Rust on me Collar and some dust in our hearts,
We'll roll 'round the coast until our banners fall apart
and with minds for tomorrow we could dream a new start
We'll haul our bones to South Australia
A hundred days on the ocean blue
And all at sea with my thoughts of you
We'll sing ourselves to sleep and dream it too,
morning fog it cleared and the light shone through
A heavy heart I carry high
The setting sun in a northern sky
I take my comfort in the work and song,
hoist the wind in sail and carry on
Aye with Rust on me Collar and some dust in our hearts,
We'll roll 'round the coast until our banners fall apart
and with minds for tomorrow we could dream a new start
We'll haul our bones to South Australia
I'd follow you, on ocean blue
New destinies beyond horizons wait,
with baited breaths, inside our chests
and onwards to the suns' first golden rays
My bonnie lassie told to me
Of foreign land way across the sea
An English man stood on sacred sand
and shook the hand of the dreaming ancient man...
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3. |
100 Steps
03:22
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A big haul day in Armstrong Bay
(100 Steps, 100 Steps)
I want a drink, I need a drink!
(100 Steps, 100 Steps)
The hull is full from Warrnambool
(100 Steps, 100 Steps)
O, where's my pipe? I need my pipe!
(100 Steps to the Merrijig Inn)
So pace 'em out boys, pace 'em out
(100 Steps, 100 Steps)
And leave me just one bottle of stout
(100 Steps to the Merrijig Inn)
Me quota's caught, we must report
(100 Steps, 100 Steps)
I want my lass, I need my lass
(100 Steps, 100 Steps)
The whales are here, so grab the gear
(100 Steps, 100 Steps)
I want want the bones, I need the bones
(100 Steps to the Merrijig Inn)
So pace 'em out boys, pace 'em out
(100 Steps, 100 Steps)
And leave me just one bottle of stout
(100 Steps to the Merrijig Inn)
Hold me up, boys, I've had too much!
(100 Steps, 100 Steps)
I will not die, no not tonight!
(100 Steps to the Merrijig Inn)
We sing to our Danny Boy
(100 Steps, 100 Steps)
We sing it loud and we sing it proud!
(100 Steps to the Merrijig Inn)
So pace 'em out boys, pace 'em out
(100 Steps, 100 Steps)
And leave me just one bottle of stout
(100 Steps to the Merrijig Inn)
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4. |
Mermaids
01:41
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Deep In The Ocean
Maids of the Wave,
We echo our songs of old
Oooh...
High out of water,
Maids of the Waves seek sailors to hear our song
Oooh...
Sails drawing nearer,
Maids of the Wave
We lure and weigh down your boats.
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5. |
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MY NAME IS BULLY FORBES, I’M THE CAPTAIN OF THIS SHIP
TAKE A TURN SUNNY AND I’LL CRACK YOU WITH MY WHIP
A FILTHY OLD BRIG WAS MY FIRST COMMAND
A FASTER SHIP WAS NEEDED, IT’S MINE TO DEMAND!
MARIA & CLEOPATRA SAILED THE AUSTRALIAN RUN
STANDING PROUDLY ON THE DECK WITH MY KNIFE AND GUN
MARCO POLO WAS THE FASTEST SHIP O’ THE TIME
SHE MADE ME THE PRIDE OF THE BLACK BALL LINE!
HIS NAME IS BULLY FORBES
HE'S THE PRIDE OF THE BLACK BALL LINE
SAILED THE QUICKEST TRIP TO MELBOURNE
WHEN HE WAS IN HIS PRIME
I LOCKED UP THE CREW FROM RUNNING TO THE GOLD
THAT DIRTY LITTLE SCHOMBERG WAS NOT WHAT I WAS SOLD
WE HAD A COW CALLED TONY THAT GAVE US LOVELY MILK
MY SHEETS THEY WERE DISGUSTING BUT MADE FROM WOVEN SILK
THAT HEAD WIND WAS RELENTLESS, “IT’S TIME TO HAUL AND TACK”!
A 1000 YARDS OF SAIL, SHE BENT AND BROKE THEIR BACKS
THE SCHOMBERG WAS A JUNK, SHE LOVED TO CHASE A WHALE
SLUGGISH AS ALL HELL - EVEN AT FULL SAIL!
HIS NAME IS BULLY FORBES
HE'S THE PRIDE OF THE BLACK BALL LINE
THEY LISTEN WHEN HE YELLS
IT'S MELBOURNE OR IT'S HELL
WAS LUCKY ON SUNDAY, T’WAS MY TIME TO SHINE
FETCH THE CABIN BOY, WHERE’S MY GIN AND WINE!
CUT THE DECK DOWN BELOW I KNEW I MISSED MY GOAL
“LET HER GO TO HELL!”, IT PAINS MY SCOTTISH SOUL
WRONG WIND, LOW SWELL, BUT WE RAN INTO THE REEF
CHRISTMAS TIME WAS RUINED, YOU’LL COP MY RAGE AND GRIEF
I DON’T BELIEVE IN JESUS BUT MAYBE IT’S A SIGN,
I’LL ALWAYS BE THE PRIDE OF THE BLACK BALL LINE!
AND THE CREW SING
HIS NAME WAS BULLY FORBES
THE PRIDE OF BLACK BALL LINE
SAILED THE QUICKEST TRIP TO MELBOURNE - WHEN HE WAS IN HIS PRIME
HIS NAME WAS BULLY FORBES
THE PRIDE OF BLACK BALL LINE
THEY LISTEN WHEN HE YELLS
IT'S MELBOURNE OR IT'S HELL
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6. |
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They sent us in boats, we were four weeks at sea
I was seventeen and seasick, I was all shades of green
They gave me a pack and they gave me a gun
Will I ever see Port Fairy again?
We were bakers and farmhands and men of the law
Fishermen and builders and the boys from next door,
All sent to our graves with the stroke of a pen
Will I ever see Port Fairy again?
The loved ones we all left behind us,
when we fell in the fields, where no-one could find us,
our faces have faded away,
remember us all on Remembrance Day.
There was Leddin and Dyson and Arnold in tow,
Those trenches were hell for the friend and the foe,
We were mortared and slaughtered, the blood always ran
And we’ll never see Port Fairy again
We were Nurses & Cooks, supporting the men,
we ran families, a death note again,
I was widowed and left here with the kids & our home
and I'll never see Port Fairy again
The Loved Ones we all left behind us,
When we fell in the fields, where no-one could find us,
Our faces have faded away,
Remember us all on Remembrance Day.
As I lay in the mud, I swear I hear gulls,
The smell of the Moyne and the flapping of sails,
I see Norfolk Pines and I swear I hear Mum,
And I’ll never see Port Fairy again,
No I’ll never see Port Fairy again,
No I’ll never see Port Fairy again,
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7. |
Seas of Gold
03:16
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Listen here my friend!
From up around the bend!
We'll tell a tale of olden days and Sailing the Seas of Gold,
We are sailing the Seas of Gold.
I was born in a rollin' mooring,
No food for days,
Papa worked on the dredgin' dock for,
Little to no pay,
'til we, settled down in a Pyipgil town with the roaring gale,
heard a story from the western Port about a terrible tale,
all over a whale.
Hear the evil men when the ships come in all,
Lathered up and brave
there's nothing here for a lad like me but to,
join the pale...
Now I raise the sail and I see the whale and I hear the tale and we're never gonna fail...
For forty days and forty nights we are Sailing the Seas of Gold...
Sailing Seas of Gold...
Never Before I saw the day
The colour within the ocean spray
And I'll know we are home,
where we long to roam, and we'll roll...
Upon Seas of Gold
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8. |
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9. |
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OSSIE ED
THE RIGHT RIP REVELL
(Had the) HEART OF A SAINT
BUT The HOOK OF THE DEVIL
5’8” TALL, SWEET DARK HAIR
HELL OF SWAGGER, AND MAJESTIC FLAIR
SWIFT ON FOOT, HE COULD DANCE ALL DAY
DUCK AND WEAVE, LEATHER AND SWAY
35 BOUTS - NEARLY WON THEM ALL
TRAINED AT THE GYM, ODD FELLOWS HALL
HAD A GLAXO JOB, BUT A WICKED RIGHT HOOK
THE PEOPLE TRAVELLED FAR… TO COME TAKE A LOOK
OSSIE ED
THE RIGHT RIP REVELL
(Had the) HEART OF A SAINT
BUT The HOOK OF THE DEVIL
THE ONLY FIGHT THAT HE DIDN’T WIN
WAS A STRAY ELBOW TO THE ERROL FLYNN
OS REMATCHED THE DISQUALIFICATION
OS REWROTE, THE SITUATION
WAS A GENTLEMAN IN A GENTLE TOWN
BUT HE COULD KNOCK ANY BLOKE STRAIGHT DOWN ON THE GROUND
A HARD WORKER AND AN HONEST MAN
BUT A VICIOUS FIGHTER WITH A VICIOUS PLAN
OSSIE ED
THE RIGHT RIP REVELL
(Had the) HEART OF A SAINT
BUT The HOOK OF THE DEVIL
SERVED QUEEN & COUNTRY IN WORLD WAR TWO
SPENT A THOUSAND DAYS WITH A GUINEA VIEW
ON THE SHIP THEY THREW UP A RING
SO THE TROOPS COULD SEE THE OSSIE THING
OSSIE WAS QUICK, HE WON THE SHOW
OSSIE SHOWED THEM WHAT THEY NEED TO KNOW
THE DENTIST DROPPED A TOOTH IN HIS LUNG
AND OSSIE’S FINAL BELL…HAD RUNG
(JAB, CROSS, UPPERCUT, HOOK)
OSSIE ED
THE RIGHT RIP REVELL
(Had the) HEART OF A SAINT
BUT The HOOK OF THE DEVIL
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10. |
The Ballad of Big Ben
04:47
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Well i woke up in the morning and the ship had carried on,
Drawn beside me in the water was the bouy i’d drift upon
And the night had cast a shadow on the white light of the moon
Ushering the fate before me and it surely couldn’t come too soon.
As I’d heard the legends’ forecast, and the stories from the gloom
Of the depths that stretched beneath unfathomed & unreachable.
From an honest man named Rory, and his cutter called the fern,
Said it drew up on the bowside and it reached beyond the stern…
I told myself; Before you go to sleep, just recall this little song
And pay justice to the name; Megalodon
There’ll be lights in the shadows there’ll be lights in the gloom
But pray hope you fall asleep sooner than soon…for how long…til Big Ben.
That dark black eye that’s staring at you every afternoon
spells your bloodied deathly end upon this cold grey dark lagoon
And the ship you thought salvation bought is nothing but a rouse,
Playing tricks upon your sallow eyes all salty and confused
You tell yourself; Before you go to sleep, just recall this little song
And pay justice to the name; Megalodon
There’ll be lights in the shadows there’ll be lights in the gloom
But pray hope you fall asleep sooner than soon…for how long…til Big Ben.
O Big Ben you cut the water, could it be my final hour?
O Big Ben i swear you’re taunting to me, my legs have no more power,
But how long? How long? How Long?
Til’ Big Ben?
When i woke up the moorings and the ship had carried on,
Drawn beside me in the water stood a fin tall dark and long…
I told you that before you sail upon the sea, recall this fateful song,
Pray for help and not to see Megalodon,
Sound out 1, 2, 3 & 4, as you knock upon death’s door,
And pay heed out to the great dark deep beyond,
For how long…til’ Big Ben?
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11. |
Running The Easting Down
02:31
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YOU can prate of yer ocean racing and swift Cunarders too.
That skip The Ditch by power of steam and the thrust of a mighty screw.
You may thrill in the Aquitania or ships of like renown.
But gimme a trip in a clipper ship when running her Easting down.
D'ye mind the dav when we squared away and ran her East by South?
When she trampled down the big Horn seas with a roaring bone in her mouth.
When the best hands twirled her bucking wheel and dared not look behind
At the growling grey-back in her wake. . . D'ye mind, old pal, d'ye mind?
You can keep your steam boat racers & your hulks of no renown
and gimme a trip in a clipper ship when running her Easting down.
Them were the days with the life-lines strung from the poop to fo'c'sle head.
When the cook 'n stoo' had their work cut out to give us our daily bread,
When the dollops came thundering over the rails and flooded the decks in a broil,
And us poor devils were plunged to the necks as we hoisted and sheeted a royal.
D'ye mind the smile in the Skipper's eyes when he summed her daily run?
And the blighter would hang to his rags aloft 'til a gan's'l banged like a gun.
And the cloths of it flogged from the bolt-ropes and canvas-threads whitened the stay. . .
It was "Leggo that mizzen t'gallant, me sons; 'n aloft and cut it away!"
Spare not a square inch of canvas, like a maid in a silken gown,
and gimme a trip in a clipper ship when running her Easting down.
It was wonderful square-yard sailing, m'lad, and glorious storming through
The watery hills of fifty south with bar-taut brace and clew
And preventer-sheets on the tops'ls, and the fores'l arched like a bow.
As she ran like a hound to the East'ard, — 'n, Lord, how the hooker did go!
Ye can have yer steam-boat racing, but gimme the run in a gale
Of a well-geared able clipper what is driven by snow-white sail.
For I've known the thrill of a piling sea and the sky in a cloud-flecked gown,
And fourteen knots in a wind-bag when she's running her Easting down !
So gimme a trip in a clipper ship when running her Easting down.
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12. |
Whaler's Loaf Rag
02:56
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13. |
The Bonney Upwelling
03:15
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The door swings both ways between life & death
But for all my pleas, they‘aint been answered yet
We’ll keep on the course and head home to the shore
And the Bonney Upwelling will keep us from the door
And it’s all the way,
we’ll Haul away,
all the way from Old England
The seas are our lives and we’d hold hope for more,
and the Bonney Upwelling will keep us from the door
The Spring-summer winds blow in from the south-east
creeping cold-canyoned water upward to the beasts
The surface it gleams with the green-upwelled blooms
And the pygmy-blue whales will then rise from the gloom
And it’s all the way,
we’ll Haul away,
all the way from Old England
The seas are our lives and we’d hold hope for more,
and the Bonney Upwelling will keep us from the door
We travel on waves and sail on for days, though nobody knows where we lie when we go,
There must be a place somewhere under the waves, where old Neptune groans at the way we go on...
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14. |
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THERE’S A TALE I FEEL THAT I MUST TELL
ABOUT THE LIGHT OF HOPE THAT SHONE FROM HELL
THE BEACON DOES CALL TO THOSE AT SEA
BUT OFTEN CREATES A CURSE IN ME
SOME SAY IT’S HAUNTED AND OTHERS SHARE MY FEAR
MY KEEPER’S HEART WILL SHUDDER WHEN LARGE WAVES APPEAR
MY TROUBLES STARTED WHEN THE LIGHT WAS LIT
PAINFUL TIME WITH WILLIAM – SEND HIM ON A SHIP.
IT PLAGUES ME AND DON’T THINK I’LL COPE
THE DREADED CURSE OF BEACON OF HOPE
EMUS, COWS, THE CHICKENS AND THE HENS
39 STEPS TO CLEAN THE FRESNEL LENS
RABBIT ISLAND’S HOME AND I’M DROWNING IN THE DRINK
TROUBLED THOUGHTS OF THE OCEAN WATCHING VESSELS SINK
THE LIGHT MUST STAY LIT AND A PROMISE I SHALL KEEP
I’M FEARING GOD AND THE SOUNDS OF THE DEEP
A CURSE WON’T LAST BUT IT PAINS MY SOUL
HEAVEN OR HELL THE SWELL WILL ROLL
THE WAVES OFTEN REACH THE LIGHTHOUSE IN HEIGHT
I MUST WARN THE VESSELS OF THE DANGERS OF THE NIGHT
NO CHANGE FOR THE BETTER IN MY POOR SALLY
WITH A HEAVY HEART I SHALL NOT TARRY
STILL THE SAME BETWEEN LIFE AND DEATH
THE 7TH OF MARCH SAW HER FINAL BREATH
SPRING IT SPRUNG AND THE LIGHT SHONE DOWN
ALL ACROSS YE BELFAST TOWN
THE BEACON OF HOPE IT SHALL RING TRUE
INTO THE BLUE ANOTHER DAY THROUGH…
INTO THE BLUE ANOTHER DAY THROUGH…
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The Southern Ocean Sea Band Port Fairy, Australia
The Southern Ocean Sea Band are a 10-piece band singing historical songs & shanties about their hometown.
Borne directly from the late Danny Spooner’s ‘Shanties at the River,’ sessions, they made their Port Fairy Folk Festival debut to launch their album, 'Blood & Bones & Fins & Glory,' in 2017, and have since toured the regions, spreading their historical songs & shanty love far and wide.
... more
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